“Extrication” (A. R. Ammons)

Rummaging through my commonplace notebooks tonight and I happily rediscovered this gem by Ammons. What a master of powerful concision!

Extrication

I tangled with
the world to
let it go
but couldn’t free

it: so I made
words
to wrestle in my
stead and went

off silent to
the quick flow
of brooks, the
slow flow of stone

A. R. Ammons
—found in Worldly Hopes (1982)

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